Nitrogen

[hitthebricks]

A buddy of mine owns a tire shop and said that I should have the tires on my trailer filled with nitrogen so they run cooler. Is there any truth to this or is he blowing smoke. HTB

[JohnMickish]

It's true but it's not magic. All that happens is that nitrogen has less moisture in it than regular compressed air. As the air in your tires gets warm from the road friction the water vapor expands (think steam kettle), as this expands it raises the pressure of your tires. That is why you check the pressure cold, not hot.

Like I said, nitrogen is not magic. You still can't run underiflated or overloaded tires, which are the two main reasons tires fail. Underinflation and overloading make lots of heat and we all know rubber doesn't like heat.

If you want to do it go ahead, it won't hurt anything but is it worth the $8 per tire or whatever?? In my opinion unless your tires are on a racetrack or an airplane, it's not worth it. Save the money and respool a couple of reels with top quality line.

[deepportage01]

pick up some blinker fluid while your there

[hitthebricks]

I have noticed on longer trips the tires do get pretty hot and the boat will start swinging more, maybe this will keep the tires cooler and track straigter. HTB

[AQUAJOE]

I like running nitrogen. Better ride over all and on long runs where tires get very hot no worries. I think it is well worth it.

Here are the facts as I understand them:

Nitrogen being a totally inert gas minimizes expansion or contraction with temperature.

So if your tires were inflated to their proper inflation pressure at installation, say 100 psi, then they will be 100 psi at 30 degrees and 100 psi at 115 degrees.

The added bonus with Nitrogen is there is minimal moisture in your tires."

While both nitrogen and oxygen can permeate rubber, nitrogen does it much more slowly. It might take six months to lose 2 psi with nitrogen, compared to just a month with air.

Nitrogen is far less reactive. So it doesn’t cause rust and corrosion on steel or aluminum, and it doesn’t degrade rubber.

In Racing:

Water vapor absorbs and holds heat. When it changes from liquid to vapor, water expands tremendously in volume.

So, tires inflated with wet air tend to run hotter and fluctuate in pressure more. That’s why racing tires, where fractions of a psi can radically change handling, are inflated with dry nitrogen.

For Safety:

When oxygen reacts with things, the process is called oxidation. When oxidation is extremely rapid, the process is called “burning.”

That’s one reason nitrogen is used in racing, off-highway and aircraft tires. These tires run so hot they can actually catch on fire.

Nitrogen doesn’t support combustion, so nitrogen-filled tires don’t add fuel to the flames. And, nitrogen helps prevent slower forms of oxidation too.

“Try the Helium that would be fun!!!”

.02 cents

[HaywardBound]

I put helium in my trailer tires. It tows so much better now, I can hardly tell I'm towing anything.

[JollyT]

All gases expand and contract with temperature. It's standard physics. Air is 78% nitrogen. Almost 21% of the rest is oxygen. All the other stuff is less than 1%. So, air is almost all nitrogen anyway. If you're worried about water use an air dryer on your air compressor. For NASCAR it makes sense giving them a controlible variable when doing 1 lb. tire pressure changes. Otherwise, it's a waste of money.